This invention relates to automated guided vehicles and is particularly concerned with a self-propelled unmanned vehicle having a path definition apparatus which readily permits path changes.
Previously known automated guided vehicles (AGV's) have suffered from guidance systems which are either inflexible or complex. Inflexible guidance systems make the AGV unfit for general purposes. Complexity makes them expensive and unreliable. As a result, the use of AGV's has been limited to special applications.
The most inflexible AGV's are guided inductively by a wire set into the floor. Such systems are expensive to install or modify if new conditions make a different route desirable. An improved design uses path-defining targets or markers placed on the floor or walls at specified locations. In such systems the AGV has a sensing element which "knows" where to look for the markers. While this is an improvement over built-in systems, it has the drawback that precise marker placement is critical to keeping the AGV on course.